Differentiated threshold value behavior in prepaid services

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a method for threshold value relates control of at least one service in a data or telecommunication system, comprising the following steps: a) defining at least one threshold value for a prepaid credit for the payment of said service; b) defining at least one action, especially control of the scope of said service, in the framework of said service, said action being able to be triggered at said threshold value; c) signalling if the threshold value(s) is/are exceeded or not respected; and d) triggering the action in response to the signal.

CLAIMS PRIORITY

This application is a national stage application of InternationalApplication No. PCT/DE02/00716 which was published in the Germanlanguage on Oct. 24, 2002 and which claims the benefit of priority toEuropean Application No. 01109180.8, which was filed in the Germanlanguage on Apr. 12, 2001.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to a method for threshold-value-related control ofat least one service in a data or telecommunication system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Services paid for in advance, particularly services in a data ortelecommunication system, are also known as prepaid services, anelectronic credit being built up with a service provider e.g. by meansof cashless transfer or cash purchase of a telephone card (prepaid card)by the user. The service provider's services booked in this manner canthen be selected cashlessly by the user from any touch-tone telephone,from a telephone booth, in a hotel etc. via a toll-free service numberand used e.g. by entering a user ID. Services of this kind can also beused from a mobile telephone, correspondingly attractive tariff plansbeing possible for the service operators through pre-payment of theservice charges. Generally tariff models tailored to the user'srequirements are provided, e.g. for the preferred use of internationalor national connections, local or long-distance calls, etc.

The scope of the services offered extends not only to voicecommunication using fixed or mobile telephones, but also to text-basedcommunication services such as e-mail or SMS (Short Message Service). Inaddition, services such as voice mail (answering machine function),Internet access (WAP phone, Internet computer) or reduced-rate servicessuch as travel information, telephone information etc. can be provided.The advantages of using a service package of this kind have so farresulted in an increasing number of users. However, the disadvantage ofthe present system is that, if credit runs out while a service is beingused, the line is cut off which means that it is no longer possible forthe user to top off his credit in good time. This is all the moreunacceptable for the user in that cut-off may occur while an importantservice is being used, e.g. an important international call, and canhave serious consequences.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an aspect of the invention, a method is provided forpermitting a flexible response to varying credit balances for prepaidservices. The method according to this aspect of the invention includessetting at least one threshold value for a prepaid credit for payment ofsaid service, defining at least one action, particularly control of thescope of said service, within the framework of said service, said actionto be triggered at said threshold value, signaling if credit falls belowor exceeds a threshold value, and triggering the action in response tothe signal.

According to an aspect of the invention, a differentiated decision onreaching a (specifically lower) threshold of an electronic credit infavor of a flexible reaction of the user is implemented.

A flexible reaction can be made possible particularly if a thresholdvalue is replaced by a number of threshold values to which at least oneaction is finally assigned in each case. The resulting possibilities forproviding flexibility in the threshold value behavior of a prepaidservice allow the user to replenish his electronic credit according tohis specific requirements or to terminate the use of a service in anorderly manner.

The action triggered when a threshold value is reached includes theactivation or deactivation of an assigned service. For example, when anupper threshold value is reached, particularly cost-intensive servicesare turned off first in order to enable less expensive services to beprovided for as long as possible. The line will not be finally cut offuntil a lower credit threshold is reached.

A particular advantage of this is that the action triggered when athreshold value is reached includes the modification of serviceparameters, particularly charging, rating or grade of service. As aresult, simple activation or deactivation of a service is replaced by asignificantly differentiated handling of the payment modalities. Thus,for example, it would still be possible, on reaching an upper thresholdvalue, to use a service at low monthly charges and on a relativelyinexpensive tariff, whereas, if the credit falls below this thresholdvalue, said tariff will no longer be offered or the grade of service,e.g. the possibility of making international calls, will be restricted.Such a restriction of service parameters over a number of thresholdvalues down to a lower threshold value has the effect of motivating theuser to top off his electronic credit in good time.

When setting at least one threshold value for a credit balance, thethreshold value is preferably selected in accordance with user data, inparticular the scope of service booked by the user and/or the amount ofprepaid credit. Thus, for example, for a user with a high prepaid creditbalance and a booked scope of service including not only telephone butalso Internet services, an upper threshold value for triggeringscope-of-service restricting actions can be set much lower than for auser with a low prepaid credit balance and a very restricted bookedscope of service in the form of a purely telephone service.

The action triggered when a threshold value is reached is alsopreferably selected in accordance with user data, in particular thescope of service booked by the user and/or the amount of prepaid credit.Thus, when setting, as part of the service, at least one action to betriggered at a threshold value, the booked Internet service can bedeactivated and the memory size for SMS messages can be restricted, forexample, at this threshold value for a user with a low prepaid creditbalance, whereas in the case of a user with a considerably higherprepaid credit balance, only the service parameters, e.g. the underlyingtelephone tariff, will be modified on reaching the same threshold value.Here the user is motivated to build up sufficient electronic credit wellin advance for high-grade services and a “moderate” reaction when thecredit falls below a threshold value.

Another advantage is achieved by attaching an additional condition thatmust be fulfilled before the action or actions set to be triggered at athreshold value can be initiated, signaling of the occurrence ornon-occurrence of the condition taking place after signaling that thecredit exceeds or has fallen below the threshold value. By assigning acondition to at least one threshold value, it is possible to influencethe response of further parameters and therefore to tailor the solutionsto a customer's requirements.

This is particularly relevant when the size of the user's prepaid creditand/or the booked scope of service and/or the service being used is partof a condition. If, e.g., in the case of a prepaid credit of DM 100.00and a booked scope of service of telephone service (international,national), voice mail and SMS, and while a long-distance call is inprogress, credit fall below an upper threshold value of DM 15.00, theaction of modifying service parameters, e.g. restricting the voice mailcapacity, is initially triggered. If, on the other hand, the user isonly making a local call when the credit balance falls below thisthreshold value, initially no action will be triggered.

When the credit balance falls below a threshold value thereby signalingthe triggering of an action, the user is preferably informed, inresponse to the signal, of the status of his credit and/or of the scopeof service currently applicable to him. In the example described above,the long-distance caller can be additionally informed that hiselectronic credit is currently DM 15.00 and that the scope of service,i.e. his voice mail capacity, has been restricted in favor of the callin progress. This means that the user is reminded in good time to topoff his electronic credit.

According to an aspect of the invention, it is advantageous from theservice provider's standpoint that all the threshold values, actions andconditions for a plurality of users are managed at a central point of acomputer network. This kind of central administration of services isnon-labor-intensive and provides a correspondingly good overview of thecost-effectiveness and status of the operation as well as statisticalanalysis of user behavior. A software package running on a centralserver of a data and communications network is particularly suitable forsupporting this aspect of the invention.

The threshold value behavior of prepaid services can be furtherdifferentiated by setting a number of threshold values, each triggeringat least one action. It is possible to graduate the threshold values insuch a way that the actions triggered when credit falls below or exceedssaid threshold values incrementally restrict the scope of service andthe service parameters or extend them again when the electronic creditis topped off by the user. The actions triggered at graduated thresholdvalues can initiate e.g. restriction of possible telephone connectionsto the local network, simultaneous deactivation of the SMS function withsimultaneous modification of the basic call charges.

In addition, it is also possible to assign at least one condition toeach of a plurality of threshold values, the threshold values likewisebeing graduated such that the condition, of which there are at leastone, assigned thereto enables graduated restriction or extension whencredit falls below or exceeds individual threshold values. Thus, forexample, Internet access via a WAP-enabled mobile phone can bedeactivated when credit falls below a threshold value of DM 10.00, butan SMS service can be activated by another condition assigned to thisthreshold value, depending on the original prepaid credit, and whenInternet access has been deactivated.

The above-mentioned graduation can be undertaken particularly from thepoint of view that the user is informed in good time about the currentscope of the services used by him and his available credit withoutcomplete line cut-off occurring immediately. This enables him to top offhis credit balance in good time and in a differentiated manner, whichmeans that the average available credit on the user's account is alsoincreased. For the service operator, this allows the quality of theoffer to be further increased while at the same time providing cheaperprices.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be explained in greater detail withreference to the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 shows the functional relationship between the threshold values ofan electronic credit and the services triggered when the credit fallsbelow or exceeds said threshold values,

FIG. 2 shows the functional relationship between the threshold values ofan electronic credit and the services triggered when the credit fallsbelow or exceeds said threshold values with reference to a serviceexample and the assigned service server, and

FIG. 3 shows a phone card (prepaid card) tariff table according to theprior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 shows, on the left-hand side, a scale of threshold values for anelectronic credit. When the credit falls below or exceeds said thresholdvalues, the services on the right-hand side, indicated by the arrows,are triggered, reductions in the form of corresponding charging and/orrating and/or grade of service being basically assignable to eachthreshold value. When corresponding reductions come into force, theseare set by the charges service shown on the right and notified to theuser in a further step.

The threshold values can be assigned special conditions for the chargingor rating of communication or other services. An assigned conditioncould be e.g. such that, subject to a prepaid credit of DM 50.00 and thecredit simultaneously falling below the threshold, activation of thecharges service is triggered, which triggers the taking of an increasedcharge as the basis for billing a service. Conversely, however, if aprepaid credit of DM 100.00 is paid for and the credit falls below thesame threshold, no action is yet triggered. By assigning conditions toindividual threshold values, the rating, for example, can therefore beselectively influenced by the triggering or non-triggering of actions.

In addition, particular conditions for the occurrence of services orgrades of service can be formulated which trigger the activation ordeactivation of a service when the credit falls below or exceeds athreshold value. Thus, when credit falls below the highest thresholdvalue in the case of a prepaid credit of DM 100.00, the grade of serviceof a service, e.g. the possibility of international calls, can bedeactivated, but in the case of a prepaid credit of DM 50.00 thetelephone service can be cut off completely at the same threshold value.For the functional relationship shown here, the user is informed, e.g.about the state of the credit and the scope of services currentlyavailable to him.

FIG. 2 shows the functional relationship between a threshold value scaleof an electronic credit and the thereby activated or deactivatedservices with reference to service examples and the assigned serviceservers.

If, for example, the electronic credit falls below the highest thresholdvalue, a previously active and location-based service C is switched toan active and non-location-based state. This takes place in the presentexample by setting call barring and simultaneously offering alocation-based replacement service. Both services run on the HLR (HomeLocation Register) server. If the credit falls below the next thresholdvalue, a previously activated service B is deactivated. In the presentexample, a voice-prompted menu dialog is replaced by self-entry of theappropriate digits. This affects the SMAP (Service Management AccessPoint) server.

When the electronic credit falls below the next threshold, a chargesservice is activated which sets the tariff for SMS messages (ShortMessage Service) from a discount level II to a discount level I, lessfavorable discounting coming into effect for SMS in terms of a discountschedule for prepaid services. This service is activated on the PrepaidService Center server. Finally, if the credit drops below the lowestthreshold value, a service A is activated which changes a grade ofservice I to a grade of service II, causing the voice mail memory sizeto be reduced, the service A being initiated on the Voice Mail Server.

FIG. 3 shows a telephone call tariff table based on a special tariffoffer for card values of DM 10.00 and DM 25.00 as well as DM 50.00 andDM 75.00. The call credits in minutes for the corresponding card values,depending on the connection, are also listed. For lower prepaid cardvalues of e.g. DM 10.00 and DM 25.00, correspondingly higher charges areassessed for the call minutes than in the case of card values of DM50.00 and DM 75.00. The connection times to the relevant countries arecorrespondingly lower for card values of DM 10.00 and DM 25.00.Threshold values for differentiated reaction to the reaching of aminimum credit state are not provided in this tariff according to theprior art.

1. A method for threshold-value-related control of at least one servicein a data or telecommunication system, comprising: a) setting at leastone threshold value for a prepaid credit, which is administered at acentral point of the system, for the payment of the service; b) settingat least one action which includes at least control of a scope ofservice, within the framework of the service, which is to be triggeredat the threshold value; c) administering all threshold values, actionsand conditions for a plurality of users at a central point of a computernetwork; d) signaling if credit exceeds or falls below the thresholdvalue; and e) triggering the at least one action in response to thesignal, wherein a plurality of threshold values each trigger at leastone action and an assignment of at least one of the actions andconditions to the threshold values is made in such a way that, when thecredit exceeds or falls below successive threshold values, the scope ofservices other than the service currently being used are progressivelyrestricted or extended.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein theaction includes activation or deactivation of the service.
 3. The methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the action includes modifying serviceparameters which include at least one of charging, rating or grade ofservice.
 4. Method according to claim 1, wherein, in a), the thresholdvalue is selected in accordance with user data which includes at leastone of the scope of service booked by the user and the amount of theprepaid credit.
 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in b), theaction is selected in accordance with user data which includes at leastone of the scope of service booked by the user and the amount of theprepaid credit.
 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:b1) setting an additional condition for the action after the setting ofat least one action; and d1) signaling an occurrence or non-occurrenceof the condition after the step of signaling if credit exceeds or fallsbelow the threshold value.
 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein,in b1), at least one of the amount of the user's prepaid credit, thebooked scope of service and the service currently being used is part ofthe additional condition.
 8. The method according to claim 1, furthercomprising, after e): f) informing the user of at least one of a statusof the credit and of the scope of service currently applicable to theuser.
 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality ofthreshold values are each assigned at least one condition.